THE FATE OF ONE OF THE BIGGEST FOSSIL-FUEL PRODUCERS MAY NOW DEPEND ON ITS INVESTMENT IN RENEWABLE ENERGY.
Prince Turki bin Saud bin Mohammad Al Saud belongs to the family that rules Saudi Arabia. He wears a white thawb and ghutra, the traditional robe and headdress of Arab men, and he has a cavernous office hung with portraits of three Saudi royals. When I visited him in Riyadh this spring, a waiter poured tea and subordinates took notes as Turki spoke. Everything about the man seemed to suggest Western notions of a complacent functionary in a complacent, oil-rich kingdom.
But Turki doesn’t fit the stereotype, and neither does his country. Quietly, the prince is helping Saudi Arabia - the quintessential petrostate - prepare to make what could be one of the world’s biggest investments in solar power....